New: Noctigon Meteor M43 ; in production New color added: Tan

Don’t own any Zebra lights… I’m thinking something simple to use,somewhere along the line of BLF FET drivers
Can’t get any easier than simple moonlight-low-mid-high- and turbo… no need for extra fancy clicking here and there :~

Hikelite, can you tell me how to simply bump the mode from say Low to Med in the instance that low is insufficient? Do you Have to turn it off, then back on in Med? I was finding that not very intuitive, having to access a mode level directly instead of linearly.

For example, I have been using ToyKeepers A6 firmware almost exclusively of late. With this firmware I turn on my X6 with a firm click of the tail clicky and it’s in moon mode. A bump steps it up to the next level, a soft press and hold (about 1/2 second) backs it up into the previous level. So doing that from off gets you straight to Turbo with a click and a press. Or if say I think I’ll need level 4 to do the job at hand and I click it on then bump 3 times to level 4 and that’s too bright, that soft press/hold backs it down to 3 no problem. Easy to access virtually any level while in use without turning it off or cycling through all the modes to get there. I could easily have it with memory but I choose no memory so it always starts in moon. Yes, I have to cycle through levels to get to the higher end, but is that so much different than having to double or triple click the Meteor to get to High then double click again to shift to High 1 or 2?

It’s just new to me, and I’m an old dog, so the learning curve is steeper for me than some. :wink:

Dale I can't tell you that of course. I know you can use UI2 and cycle if that is what you wish.

Personally I am a 2-3 mode person so playing in the UI1 with only Low-Turbo and by double click I also have Moon, is excellent to me, no complications of cycling and remembering what was the last used mode. When I will get mine I will try to make a video showing just that (if others don't do it faster), of course I don't care to memorize in mind only that I need to use, basically 3 things: press, 1 click, double click.

Why do you turn the light off for change mode (I hope you use UI3?)? You must use fast and long click to increase mode number and doubleclick for decrease mode number. And you can program any light outpur for every mode as you want. Or you use another UI, not UI3?

I was finding UI3 the best suited to me, I just didn’t keep it long enough to figure out how it all works.

I figured my own is coming so I shouldn’t tie up the sample any longer than necessary, it’s on the way to next in line even now. Speed is of the essence. :wink:

Yeah, just a bit…

I get the impression I may have made Inferion feel insulted by suggesting the idea of modifying the Meteor… but no offense is intended. It’s just kind of what we do on BLF, home of “Check out this cool shiny thing, I bet we can make it even better!”

And then double the excitement upon finding out the light was designed by someone on another enthusiast forum, since that opens up all sorts of possibilities for collaborating. It even has the MCU pins broken out as pads for reflashing. :slight_smile:

But if people don’t want to share code, they don’t have to. That’s fine. Different people have different ways of thinking. I’m sad that cultural or personal differences might get in the way, but it’s not a big deal. It happens. There’s even a book on the topic, “The Cathedral and the Bazaar”. I come from a free software background, the bazaar, where everyone is welcome to participate in building anything they want. Sounds like Inferion goes more with the cathedral approach, where only a select few are trusted to build and everyone else is a consumer. Both work, but in very different ways.

Opinions of the Meteor interface may also be influenced by cultural differences. I personally find it a bit odd to have 17 different actions on a single button which transition from the “off” state to some other state, yet not have the ability to quickly and easily go up or down one brightness step from any level while it’s on. Would be nice if I could change that, but it seems unlikely.

As for practical matters of modding… I found the indigo 5.2 build yesterday but it has only a .hex, no sources, and it’s 2 years old. If I translated the page correctly, it sounds like the source is all assembly code instead of C. That significantly increases the investment required to modify it, on top of having to solder wires between each flash and use more expensive high-voltage flashing tools. Apparently it’s also prone to “failing open” if the code doesn’t work, meaning it could easily damage itself. One more barrier to entry for modding it. Not an easy project to jump into, especially without existing code to show the safe ways of doing things.

The Meteor is an amazing light which pushes the boundary of what’s possible, and I’m glad it exists. It’s truly a step forward for the entire torch industry, bringing the innovations of custom mod communities into the commercial realm. In that sense, it’s much like what we’re trying to do with the BLF EE A6. But I’m no longer sure I should buy one, since my main interest was modding it. It sounds like it’s not the playground I was hoping for, and would end up as more of a cute stubby museum piece on my shelf.

ToyKeeper, closed source is requirement from Noctigon. I think, you can ask Hank to give you source codes too. Or you can collaborate together for next beatiful version of this (or another) Noctigon light!
And yes, it is assembler .

Inferion always share sourсe code of previous version of his projects (and often last version too). And not only sourсe cobe but also PCB, schemes, etc. But this time it’s commercial project and Inferion can’t share source cobe because of contract with flashlight supplier don’t permit this. Sourсe code of Indigo 5.2 is in this message Показать сообщение отдельно - Indigo 5.0, или "не совсем форумный" драйвер? (Часть 2) . But, of course, Meteor has significally modified firmware, much more automated and better working. Also I used Indigo 5.2 in my flashlight for a long time and it’s work not bad.
Inferion use assembly code because Tiny85 has small amount of memory and if compile firmware from C it can’t fit MCU. Using other MCU is difficult because Tiny85 is very-very good MCU for drivers like subject flashlight and has many useful things inside the chip.

Hey, thanks! I didn’t see any sources when I looked, but I also don’t read .ru very well.

I can’t do much if the source is closed, even if I had a copy, since an open license is required in order to share anything with the community. In general I’m less interested in producing a product, and more interested in empowering people to make their own products.

On a different note, it’s nice to have some Fonarevka folks on BLF now. I know language tends to keep the two sites separate, but we’re both crazy about shiny objects. :slight_smile: BTW, if there is any open-source code available, I’d be happy to include it in the torch code repository I’m maintaining. The link is in my signature below.

Yes, the attiny chips are awesome, and I would love to use the attiny85 because it has 8192 bytes available. :slight_smile:

I understand about trying to fit everything. I’ve been using the attiny13a (1024 bytes) and it’s very difficult to fit the features I want! C is not so bad though; even with C I managed to fit 20 modes in 3 mode pseudo-groups into 1024 bytes, including dual turbo step-down, low-voltage protection and step-down, eeprom wear-leveling, dual PWM, some tint management, offtime measurement, and it still has 70 bytes left. The interface works like this.
(BTW, moon on that light is 0.3 lumens, max turbo is 3300 lumens, it’s 24mm x ~124mm in size, and it can be built for about $50 using parts from RMM’s amazing shop… so many cool toys available these days!)

Firmware of Meteor control many parameters, not only UI. It control input and output voltage, input and output current, inductance, internal resistant of batteries, temperature and etc. (Inferion can explain more detail) and use many mathematics models, filters etc. for drive MOSFET. It’s not only DC-DC step-up with different current output and some user interfaces. I don’t know about Meteor, but Indigo 5.2 use three different methods for current regulation depending of current amount. Meteor use at least two different methods (I can see when one method change to another). Maybe it has three methods but with my eyes I can’t see it. Even when used assembler now no free memory and for add some new functions first you must make more optimisation of existing code.

Boy it sounds like I’ll have my work cut out for me trying to figure out and explain how to program this light, when I get it.

You’ll have it tomorrow. :bigsmile:

*sigh…after reading all this schematic modes… makes me reconsidering about purchasing this awesome light. :~
Maybe I should wait little longer, then they might put the new XP-L LED on the next Meteor 44 :bigsmile:

UI 3 looks okay. I’d probably set it to the three lowest levels such that a double-click would rotate through the three levels in increasing order (click once for moon, click twice for low, click then click-and-hold for med). It’d give me access to modes 1, 2, 3, and 7… and I would probably just not bother with 4, 5, or 6.

has to be the best light in your collection, no?

I’m waiting for the S3 3D emitter. Now he says ‘next week.’ I want a super flooder, so I need Carclo 10509. But Dales video makes me think I wouldn’t be able to replace the optics.

Anxious to see Marks video review! But like all his reviews, he will need some time :smiley:

My order for LG's new high drain LG HG2 cells were a no go. The seller didn't actually have any in stock. Instead, I've got some LG MH1 cells instead on their way. They're 10A max draw and have 3200mAh capacity. They're also quite cheap at $5.76 per cell when bought in a 10 pack.

The best light in my collection? probably not… some of the OL creations is probably one of the best ones… the smallest and the brightest maybe :bigsmile:

Can’t wait! Oh wait, I have to… doing a webcast out of town, so I have to wait to use it until Saturday evening… I will try and get this one cranked out fast… I want to shoot for a week to a week and a half before shipping it to the next victim!

In 10 days Hank will be sold out and moving on! :open_mouth: lol

I wonder if Hank can have the spot of glue left off that one leg on the optics for those of us interested in possible changes in the future?

I’m pretty sure the Automotive 3M double stick tape will pull it out, glue or no glue. If mine won’t come out I’ll get serious with em and drill the legs out, put trits in the legs when I put it back together. :slight_smile: